What’s In My Mailbox? | Secret Gardens

I don’t know about you, my fellow snail-mailers, but this past month or so has been a pretty slow time for my mailbox. With the new semester starting, I’m not surprised that my volume of incoming mail has decreased since summer drew to a close!

That said, after a few weeks of nothing but bills and unwanted catalogues, I was delighted to find that I’d accumulated quite a number of new letters by the time this weekend rolled around. Good things come to those who wait, I suppose?

My pen pal from Spain, who sent this envelope, is a master of mail art—her instagram page is one of my biggest snail mail inspirations, and I’m so glad to be getting to know her!

This time, her envelope featured a beautiful print of The Birth of Venus and was filled with a raffia-tied letter and a wonderful quote that perfectly sums up my goals in life. (She had actually sent me a postcard from her trip to Germany earlier this week–so I was fortunate enough to hear from her twice!)

She also included these two sheets of paper with wonderful willow and bird designs: they’re almost too pretty to write on!

I wrote about the photos that I sent her for our disposable camera swap, and I had such a great time looking over the images that she sent me in return.

The rather garden-influenced theme of the first letter I received reminded me of some wonderful stationery of my own: I love these gorgeous gold-foil peacock cards and their matching floral envelopes. Sure, one of the designs featured in the set is every stationery addict’s nightmare—the pre-inscribed thank-you card—but I’m sure I can repurpose it somehow!

In any case, the best part of receiving letters again is that I finally have replies to write: and an excuse to send more pretty stationery out into the postal system!

4 comments

It’s good to hear (or read!) of someone else who still likes to send snail-mail! And internationally at that – such fun. 🙂 Perhaps you’ve explained elsewhere, but how did you get these pen pals of yours?

Yes! Writing letters makes me so happy; it’s a method of communication well worth reviving! I found most of my pen pals through tumblr or instagram, interestingly enough–so, in my case, I used social media as a gateway into more old-fashioned contact 😀